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Cannabis, Cannabis-Based Products, and Cannabinoids for Medicinal Use
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Cannabis, Cannabis-Based Products, and Cannabinoids for Medicinal Use

A special issue of International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (ISSN 1660-4601).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 December 2022) | Viewed by 20507

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Daniel A. Erku

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Centre for Applied Health Economics, Griffith University, Nathan, Queensland 4000, Australia
Interests: medicinal cannabis; health economics; patient preference; pharmaceutical health services research; tobacco control; cancer prevention and control
Dr. Yvonne Bonomo

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
1. Department of Addiction Medicine, St Vincent's Hospital Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC 3000, Australia
2. Division of Medicine, Dentistry, and Health Sciences, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC 3000, Australia
Interests: addiction including medicinal cannabis

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Patient interest in the use of cannabis and cannabinoids to treat a variety of conditions has increased over the last decade. Increased patient demand has also been accompanied by renewed scientific interest in the therapeutic effects of cannabis, and several clinical trials have recently evaluated the medical use of cannabinoids. Although the evidence base is limited and inconsistent, findings from systematic reviews of currently available controlled clinical trials suggest that cannabinoids, when used as either adjunctive treatment or a drug of last resort, relieve some of the symptoms of some illnesses (e.g., neuropathic pain and spasticity in multiple sclerosis, chronic non-cancer pain, intractable childhood epilepsy). Medicine regulatory authorities in certain countries have already granted marketing authorisations, on the basis of an evolving yet limited evidence base, to a wide variety of plant-derived and synthetic cannabinoid-containing preparations for various indications. These products predominantly contain tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and/or cannabidiol (CBD) in various concentrations and dosage forms.

This Special Issue will add to the knowledge base and advance our international understanding of cannabis and cannabis-base products, particularly for medicinal use. It will explore scientific, clinical, economic, and patient reported outcomes and consider how these may advance policy and clinical practice on the use of cannabis-based medicines. We encourage you to submit original, empirical studies, systematic reviews, meta-analyses, network meta-analyses, qualitative studies, health policy analysis and media content analysis. Interdisciplinary and multi-country collaborative research are particularly welcome. Examples of manuscripts include (but are not limited to) the following areas:

Clinical pharmacology

  • Acceptability, safety, effectiveness (and PK profile) of medicinal cannabis for various disease conditions including in the substance withdrawal context;
  • Pharmacovigilance.

Health economics and patient reported outcomes

  • Public and patient preference for the availability and use of medicinal cannabis;
  • Impact of medicinal cannabis on patient reported outcomes such as health-related quality of life (HRQoL);
  • Cost–effectiveness of medicinal cannabis for the management of refractory symptoms associated with chronic conditions (cost–utility analyses, value of information analyses, etc.)

Health service research

  • Barriers to patient access to medicinal cannabis;
  • Beliefs, knowledge, concerns, and self-reported practices of health professionals regarding medicinal cannabis.

If you have an idea but are not certain whether this falls into the scope of this Special Issue, you may contact the Guest Editor: Dr. Daniel Erku.

Dr. Daniel A. Erku
Dr. Yvonne Bonomo
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2500 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • cannabis
  • medicinal cannabis
  • synthetic cannabinoids
  • pharmacology
  • toxicology
  • pharmacovigilance
  • health economics
  • health services research

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Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

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11 pages, 734 KiB  
Article
A Survey of Cannabis Use among Patients with Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD)
by Alondra Velez-Santiago, Edwin Alvarez-Torres, Ricardo Martinez-Rodriguez, Emmanuel Candal-Rivera, Luis Muniz-Camacho, Luis Ramos-Burgos and Esther A. Torres
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2023, 20(6), 5129; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20065129 - 15 Mar 2023
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 5602
Abstract
Inflammatory bowel diseases (IBDs) are chronic conditions of unknown cause or cure. Treatment seeks to reduce symptoms and induce and maintain remission. Many patients have turned to alternatives, such as cannabis, to alleviate living with IBD. This study reports the demographics, prevalence, and [...] Read more.
Inflammatory bowel diseases (IBDs) are chronic conditions of unknown cause or cure. Treatment seeks to reduce symptoms and induce and maintain remission. Many patients have turned to alternatives, such as cannabis, to alleviate living with IBD. This study reports the demographics, prevalence, and perception on cannabis use of patients attending an IBD clinic. Patients agreed to participate and completed an anonymous survey during their visit or online. Descriptive analysis, Fisher’s exact test, and Wilcoxon-Mann-Whitney rank-sum test were used. One hundred and sixty-two adults (85 males, 77 with CD) completed the survey. Sixty (37%) reported use of cannabis, of which 38 (63%) used it to relieve their IBD. A value of 77% reported low to moderate knowledge about cannabis, and 15% reported little to no knowledge. Among cannabis users, 48% had discussed use with their physician, but 88% said they would feel comfortable discussing medical cannabis for IBD. Most saw improvement of their symptoms (85.7%). A considerable number of patients with IBD use medical cannabis for their disease, unknown to their physician. The study reinforces the importance that physicians understand the role of cannabis in the treatment of IBD in order to appropriately counsel patients. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Cannabis, Cannabis-Based Products, and Cannabinoids for Medicinal Use)
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Review

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15 pages, 356 KiB  
Review
Medicinal Cannabis for Paediatric Developmental, Behavioural and Mental Health Disorders
by Daryl Efron and Kaitlyn Taylor
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2023, 20(8), 5430; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20085430 - 7 Apr 2023
Cited by 13 | Viewed by 5114
Abstract
Parents of children with developmental, behavioural and mental health disorders are increasingly asking whether medicinal cannabis might be a therapeutic option for their child. This paper presents the current evidence for medicinal cannabis in this population. Preliminary evidence from open-label studies suggests the [...] Read more.
Parents of children with developmental, behavioural and mental health disorders are increasingly asking whether medicinal cannabis might be a therapeutic option for their child. This paper presents the current evidence for medicinal cannabis in this population. Preliminary evidence from open-label studies suggests the potential for medicinal cannabis to ameliorate some symptoms in children with autism spectrum disorder. However, only one double-blind placebo-controlled trial has been completed, with inconclusive findings. Synthetic, transdermal cannabidiol gel has demonstrated efficacy for reducing social avoidance in a sub-group of children with Fragile X syndrome. Studies of medicinal cannabis are planned or underway for children and/or adolescents with autism, intellectual disability, Tourette’s syndrome, anxiety, psychosis, anorexia nervosa and a number of specific neurodevelopmental syndromes. High quality evidence from double-blind placebo-controlled trials is needed to guide clinical practice. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Cannabis, Cannabis-Based Products, and Cannabinoids for Medicinal Use)
25 pages, 1747 KiB  
Review
Evidence from Human Studies for Utilising Cannabinoids for the Treatment of Substance-Use Disorders: A Scoping Review with a Systematic Approach
by Kayvan Ali Gharbi, Yvonne Ann Bonomo and Christine Mary Hallinan
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2023, 20(5), 4087; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20054087 - 24 Feb 2023
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 3193
Abstract
Substance-use disorders are pervasive, comorbid with a plethora of disease and possess limited treatment options. Medicinal cannabinoids have been proposed as a novel potential treatment based on preclinical/animal trials. The objective of this study was to examine the efficacy and safety of potential [...] Read more.
Substance-use disorders are pervasive, comorbid with a plethora of disease and possess limited treatment options. Medicinal cannabinoids have been proposed as a novel potential treatment based on preclinical/animal trials. The objective of this study was to examine the efficacy and safety of potential therapeutics targeting the endocannabinoid system in the treatment of substance-use disorders. We performed a scoping review using a systematic approach of systematic reviews, narrative reviews, and randomised control trials that utilised cannabinoids as treatment for substance-use disorders. For this scoping review we used the PRISMA guidelines, a framework for systematic reviews and meta-analyses, to inform our methodology. We conducted a manual search of Medline, Embase, and Scopus databases in July 2022. Of the 253 results returned by the databases, 25 studies including reviews were identified as relevant, from which 29 randomised controlled trials were derived and analysed via a primary study decomposition. This review captured a small volume of highly heterogenous primary literature investing the therapeutic effect of cannabinoids for substance-use disorders. The most promising findings appeared to be for cannabis-use disorder. Cannabidiol appeared to be the cannabinoid showing the most promise for the treatment of multiple-substance-use disorders. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Cannabis, Cannabis-Based Products, and Cannabinoids for Medicinal Use)
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Other

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7 pages, 668 KiB  
Commentary
The Rise and Rise of Medicinal Cannabis, What Now? Medicinal Cannabis Prescribing in Australia 2017–2022
by Christine Mary Hallinan and Yvonne Ann Bonomo
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19(16), 9853; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19169853 - 10 Aug 2022
Cited by 18 | Viewed by 4886
Abstract
Medicinal cannabis was legalised in Australia in November 2016. By August 2022, there were 5284 specialist physician and general practitioner (GP) prescribers who submitted Special Access Scheme (SAS) applications to the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) for the provision of medicinal cannabis prescriptions their [...] Read more.
Medicinal cannabis was legalised in Australia in November 2016. By August 2022, there were 5284 specialist physician and general practitioner (GP) prescribers who submitted Special Access Scheme (SAS) applications to the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) for the provision of medicinal cannabis prescriptions their patients. In this article we examine the impact of the delivery of publicly available clinical guidance documents, provision of education to prescribers, establishment of the TGA online portal, and launching of cannabis clinics on the number of applications approved by the TGA over time. We considered these findings in the context of the need to align the interventions facilitating the prescribing of medicinal cannabis with the establishment of processes to enable the systematic monitoring of patient outcomes. The cumulative number of medicinal cannabis Special Access Scheme-B (SAS-B) prescription approvals from January 2017 to June 2022 was 258,926. SAS-B approvals increased at an average rate of 208.55% p < 0.000, (95% CI 187.25–229.85) per month. Conclusion: There has been a rapid growth in prescribing since the legalisation of medicinal cannabis in Australia and this expansion has not been accompanied by parallel processes for the monitoring of medicinal cannabis. The capture of more highly granulated data, as found in the electronic medical record (EMR), patient smartphone applications, and social media provide an opportunity to monitor medicinal cannabis effectiveness and safety across multiple prescribing indications. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Cannabis, Cannabis-Based Products, and Cannabinoids for Medicinal Use)
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